An effect of snow for electric energy generation by 40 kW PV system

In the fiscal year 1999, a 40 kW PV system was installed in Maizuru national college of technology. In Maizuru-city located in the sea of Japan side, there is much snowfall in the winter season. This snow obstructs the solar energy and decreases the irradiation on the PV system. Therefore, the total efficiency of electric power generation of the system is decreased. The research of equipment, which melts snow, is carried out in order to solve this problem, however, it has not yet come to the practical use. This study estimates the effect of the snow melting equipment by using the PV database which is previously constructed by us. Using a model for estimating the electric energy generated by 40 kW PV system, it proposes the operation time and its position of the snow melting equipment. The position of the snow melting equipment is the lower edge portion of the bottom ones of solar cell modules. The operation time of the equipment is the time after the snow becomes pressured. These results improve the efficiency of the PV system in the snowfall region. Both the generated electric powers with and without snow melting device can evaluate by using our PV model and database.